Misinformed about service charge :(

elsien

ilikepancakes wrote: »

Of course I did but it does not mean I can't be mad now. This is not selling rice for £1 but a flat for a quarter of a million.
Mistake has been made, now somebody has to pay for it - me keeping my mouth shut and paying £400 more than agreed or them lowering the price

The flat is 1/4 million. The discrepancy in figures is £400. That's 0.16 %. Less than the current inflation rate.

If that's a deal breaker for you, that's your decision, and you either negotiate or walk away. But in the general scale of things it really doesn't merit angry faces and "somebody has to pay"s.

You may get far worse than this as the house buying process proceeds. If this is your reaction to a £400 service charge increase, then you might want to be sitting down when the survey results come in. It's a stressful process and a bit of perspective will make it a lot easier.

ilikepancakes

Elsien, you are absolutely right! This is "only" 0.16% and most voices on this forum say that I should not be moaning about it.
But remember, this is 0.16% per year!

Now, if we take of 0.16% from asking price of "255k, it would be £4080 less!

What I don't understand is, why people say I should pay more service charge instead I should ask to pay less for the flat when it clearly was not my mistake.

AdrianC

ilikepancakes wrote: »

Elsien, you are absolutely right! This is "only" 0.16% and most voices on this forum say that I should not be moaning about it.
But remember, this is 0.16% per year!

Now, if we take of 0.16% from asking price of "255k, it would be £4080 less!

No, that would be 1.6%. Ten times as much.

Your proposed £5k reduction is 12.5yrs of £400.

edgex

ilikepancakes wrote: »

EA told me the service charge during the first and only viewing. I haven't asked yet as I have received documents from my solicitor today and I see service charge is £2400. I think what and how to do.

If they haven't know exact figure it is not an excuse to say it is £2000, and I took it into consideration and I was prepared maybe up to £2100. If they did not know then they could check it and get back to me with correct number.

oh !!!!!!!!!

YOU put an offer in for £250k when you had zero information in writing
YOU chose to do that

YOU have to choose what YOU will do next, & YOU will have to accept the outcome

ilikepancakes

You are correct Adrian.

I think that asking for the reduction is reasonable because I can't see a reason I should pay more from what was agreed.
How to calculate the reduction then? It will always be subjective.

10years of service charge? Why 10 then, not 5 or 15?

I think that £250k would be reasonable because it would mean £240 decrease in my mortgage. And also I have to suffer more difficult sale in the future.

There are some flats with £1600 charge and they tend to sell quicker than those with 2400 or 2600

ilikepancakes

edgex wrote: »

oh !!!!!!!!!

YOU put an offer in for £250k when you had zero information in writing
YOU chose to do that

YOU have to choose what YOU will do next, & YOU will have to accept the outcome

Are you serious? :eek:

I had verbal information that service charge is £2000 and then I made an offer!!!!

edgex

ilikepancakes wrote: »

Are you serious? :eek:

I had verbal information that service charge is £2000 and then I made an offer!!!!

Maybe read what is written

YOU put an offer in for £250k when you had zero information in writing
YOU chose to do that

Is this the same property you had put on offer on over 2 months ago?

ilikepancakes wrote: »

I'm looking for advice what to do.
Me and my partners are FTB, we had our offer accepted and solicitors instructed 2 months ago. Now we have to apply for the mortgage as we had to wait till my partner receive 12th payslip to be eligible for a mortgage (she is on zero hour contract).

antrobus

ilikepancakes wrote: »

.....

I think that asking for the reduction is reasonable because I can't see a reason I should pay more from what was agreed....

Nothing was 'agreed'. You can't reach an agreement with the vendor about the level of future service charges.

ilikepancakes wrote: »

.....
How to calculate the reduction then? It will always be subjective.

10years of service charge? Why 10 then, not 5 or 15?

I think that £250k would be reasonable because it would mean £240 decrease in my mortgage. And also I have to suffer more difficult sale in the future....

The vendor may take a different view.

ilikepancakes wrote: »

.....
There are some flats with £1600 charge and they tend to sell quicker than those with 2400 or 2600

Then buy one of those.

Hillbilly1

Read the info on the lease fully before making a decision. What is possibly more important is how often this figure is reviewed or increased and what the service charge covers.

Service charges can cover very different things in different buildings so check the info carefully before deciding

NeilCr

And you still don't know the actual reason for the discrepancy between the figures

What will you do, for example, if it turns out that there was an increase in the intervening three months?